Editor’s note: The Long March will be closed for inventory the month of August. We regret any inconvenience this causes our loyal customers. In an effort to keep you reasonably content and focussed, we are offering re-runs of some of the best columns of the year. We value your custom and hope you will stick around for . . . the Long March.

Editor’s note: The Long March will be closed for inventory the month of August. We regret any inconvenience this causes our loyal customers. In an effort to keep you reasonably content and focussed, we are offering re-runs of some of the best columns of the year. We value your custom and hope you will stick around for . . . the Long March.

We, as Americans, have a terrible tendency of putting inconsistent guidelines on what it means to be an American. Most of it comes in the form of political ideology and other nuanced things that can never truly quantify a person’s dedication to their country. And this is ad news for fairly obvious reasons.

Tom Cruise on Thursday shared an Instagram photo of a F/A-18E Super Hornet with three words: “Feel The Need.” Next to the Navy fighter, staring wistfully at it, was Cruise himself dressed in a flight suit. The Twitter caption was “Day 1,” confirmation that filming for the highly anticipated sequel to Top Gun has begun.